Testarossa Catalyser

Both of these answers may be quasi-accurate depending on the components and the source. If you need both a pair of precats and a pair of cats, that $12K USD price is probably about right for the F Dealer full-retail price (add more if you need a pair of "cat" exhaust headers too ). Hyper-Flow (aftermarket) parts might be about 1/2~2/3 of that, and, on this continent, there is a lower tier of aftermarket cat options (but no lower tier aftermarket precat options AFAIK).

But what is your situation? Does it need to visually look "stock"? If your stock precats are internally broken, I'd clean their interiors out and then buy just a fresh pair of cats (JMO) -- the warm tailpipe CO/HC measurement will still be excellent.

Or are you doing the more difficult task of putting a catalyzer system onto a (euro) standard version 1988 TR?

 

I've had damage on my cats as well. One broke inside and partially melted. I did have a bank running very rich so did unburnt fuel melt it? Maybe, I'll let the expert tell me, but I did know for sure that I wouldn't put original ones again. I kept them on the side so I can keep all original parts, but I went with high-flow modern cats that allow better exhaust flow and more effective than the 80's. I ended putting 142167/142166 Ferrari precat bypasses and Fabspeed highflow cats. I had Ferrari retune the banks and since then with this setup, on all smog checks, I actually got better numbers than I ever had with the original precats/cats, and for a fraction of the cost, a small fraction.

 

Sadly, I can confirm from personal experience that the stock F TR precat and cat ceramic matrix can fracture and/or melt from overheating (especially the precat -- which, I believe, was a last minute act of design desperation to meet US cold-running specs after cold start up). The "steel" that your Dealer is suggesting refers to the substrate onto which the exotic catalytic metal film(s) are deposited. It seems to be the more modern technology (and doesn't suffer from fractures), but, if something goes wrong, and the inside of the precat/cat becomes a blast furnace, it doesn't have a good outcome either .

Here's a shot of the stock TR ceramic square-cell "brick" matrix:

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And a shot of an aftermarket (HyperFlow) steel construction with the wound "log" form of a corrugated, pre-plated sheet that also gives a lot of surface area with the lowest possible flow restriction:

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With regard to prices, seems about right to me for "full retail new parts" and "full retail opened/new matrix/welded parts" - JMO. If you get an intact stock TR cat out of the project , please shoot me a PM -- I need one! You should ask for the old parts back, IMO, as even a carcass has value. Good luck with the project!